Versailles Treaty Revision

AIMS OF THE BIG THREE 1. Georges Clemenceau, President of France – blamed Germany = punishment/ ‘hard justice’/ angry = revenge/ wanted to ’make Germany pay’ for the Damage/ felt threatened = wanted independent Rhineland/ get Alsace-Lorraine/ peace = wanted Germany weak and crippled . 2. Woodrow Wilson, President of America – 14 Points/ a better world ‘safe for democracy’/ fair peace/ self-determination/ International Co-operation (League of Nations) 3. David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Britain – compromise/ punish & make Germany pay, but not revenge like France/ protect British Empire/ trade/ peace: did not want to create anger in Germany which would lead to war in the future.

SIX TERMS OF THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES [memory word: GARGLE] 1. Guilt – clause 231: Germany accepted blame ‘for causing all the loss and damage’ of the war. 2. Army – army: 100,000/ no submarines/ no aeroplanes/ 6 battleships/ Rhineland de- militarised 3. Reparations – £6,600 million – in instalments, until 1984). 4. Germany lost land – Alsace-Lorraine to France/ Saar to France (15 years)/ Malmedy to Belgium/ North Schleswig to Denmark/ West Prussia and Upper Silesia to Poland/ Danzig a ‘free city’/ Memel to Lithuania/ German colonies became ‘mandates’ of the League of Nations. 5. League of Nations set up. 6. Extra points – forbade Anschluss/ Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania independent states.

HOW THE GERMANS FELT [memory word: U GARGLER] 1. Unfairly treated – no part in Conference talks/ forced to sign/ few of 14 Points in the Treaty. 2. Guilt – ‘Such a confession in my mouth would be a lie’, said Count Brockdorff-Rantzau. 3. Armed forces – meant Germany could not defend itself against even small countries (the Dungervolker - Dung people). 4. Reparations – starved German children. 5. Germany lost territory – a humiliation/ contrary to self-determination/ made Germany poorer - took farm land (W Prussia) and industrial land (Saar). 6. League of Nations – an insult/ meant Germany couldn’t defend itself in the League of Nations. 7. Extra – forbidding Anschluss was against the principle of self-determination. 8. Results – riots in Berlin/the Deutsche Zeitung attacked ‘the disgraceful treaty’/ Kapp Putsch (1920) to try to overturn the Treaty.

WHY WAS THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES MORE IMPORTANT? [memory word: BOLMA]. 1. Big Three negotiated Versailles - other treaties designed by officials. 2. Outlined principles (self-determination/Guilt/Army reduced/Reparations/loss of land) - other treaties simply applied them. 3. League of Nations was set up by Versailles. 4. Major Powers were involved: how Britain and France dealt with Germany; not scared of Austria or Turkey. 5. Afterwards, Versailles led to Hitler and World War II

WHAT THE ALLIES THOUGHT ABOUT THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES 1. Clemenceau  LIKED Clause 231/ disarmament/ Reparations/ Getting back Alsace-Lorraine & mandates  DISLIKED Saar (only for 15 years)/ wanted an independent Rhineland, not just demilitarised. 2. Wilson  GOT League of Nations/ self-determination for Poland, Czechoslovakia etc,  DISLIKED many of his 14 points were ignored/ Britain opposed freedom of seas/ only defeated powers were made to disarm/ colonies were given no say in their future/ American Senate refused to sign Treaty or join League of Nations. 3. Lloyd George  LIKED reducing German navy/ getting german colonies as British mandates  DISLIKED Wilson’s ideas about colonies and freedom of the seas/ Clemenceau’s harshness  JM Keynes said that reparations would cause another war  Harold Nicolson thought the Treaty ‘neither just nor wise'.

THE FOUR OTHER TREATIES OF 1919–20 [memory word: SaiNTS] 1. Saint Germain (with Austria, 1919), in which Austria – had to give land to Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, and Italy/ was allowed only a volunteer force of 30,000 men and no navy/ was forbidden to unite with Germany (Article 88)/ had to pay reparations. 2. Neuilly (with Bulgaria, 1919), in which Bulgaria – had to give land to Yugoslavia and Greece/ was allowed an army of only 20,000 men/ had to pay reparations. 3. Trianon (with Hungary, 1920), in which Hungary – had to give land to Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia/ was allowed an army of only 35,000/ had to pay reparations. 4. Sèvres (with Turkey, 1920) dismantled the Turkish Empire – Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco became independent/ Syria became a French mandate/ Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Suez canal became British mandates/ Turkey lost Smyrna to Greece, control of the Straits into the Black Sea/ Turkey had to disarm and pay reparations.

SELF-DETERMINATION (= the right to rule yourself) Problems [memory word: APES] 1. Areas are sometimes very mixed racially 2. Physical frontiers are not the same as racial areas 3. Economic areas are not the same as racial areas 4. Suspicion: Germans not allowed self-determination Successes [memory word: NAME] 1. Nine nations set up – Poland, Finland, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania 2. Alsace-Lorraine given to France 3. Minorities: countries had treat minorities fairly 4. Elections (plebiscites) in 3 places – Schleswig, Upper Silesia and the Saar. Failures [memory word: GAMES] 1. Germans in Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia 2. Anschluss forbidden 3. Minorities existed 4. Empires stayed 5. Specific violations – 1919 d’Annunzio captured Fiume/ 1920: Poland conquered land from Russia and Lithuania AFTER 1919: DATES LIST 28 Jun 1919 Treaty of Versailles signed. 19 Feb 1920 US Senate refuses to sign the Treaty of Versailles. 17 Mar 1920 Kapp Putsch (rebellion) in Germany, against the peace treaty, fails. 6 Apr 1920 French troops invade Ruhr in Germany after the German govt had sent troops into the Rhineland to stop rioting. 8 Mar 1921 French, British and Belgian troops invade the Ruhr to force Germany to agree to reparations. 11 Jan 1923 French and Belgian troops invade the Ruhr to force Germany to pay reparations. 9 Apr 1924 Dawes Plan: gives Germany longer to pay reparations, and grants huge loans to get the German economy going. 16 Oct 1925 Locarno Pact: peace agreement between Fr., Br., Belgium, Italy & Germany. 8 Sep 1926 Germany admitted to the League of Nations. 27 Aug 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact: 65 nations (inc. Fr/Br/USA/Ger) promise to abolish war. 7 Jun 1929 The Young Plan reduces reparations. 9 Jul 1932 Lausanne Agreement: USA, France and Britain suspend reparations payments.